Making Buildings Work for Your Community

Project date: 2010

The Story

In 2008, The Glass-House was invited to join the Asset Transfer Unit Stakeholder Forum, the advisory group to the Asset Transfer Unit (ATU), funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government and coordinated by the Development Trusts Association. The ATU raised awareness and provided practical support for the transfer of assets from public to community ownership.

While on the ATU Stakeholder Forum, The Glass-House identified a gap in the support being provided to communities taking on buildings and having to manage a refurbishment process. We were keen to ensure that groups taking on the ownership and management of buildings for community benefit were prepared both to assess whether the buildings in question were the right buildings in the right place, and to use design effectively to transform the buildings for new uses.

In 2010, working with the Asset Transfer Unit, we developed a project to address this gap and to produce a design resource to inform and inspire groups taking on a building.

Working with Glass-House Enabler architect Stephen Smith, we visited 10 community buildings around the country that had undergone refurbishment, delivering workshops that engaged current users and managers of the buildings as well as those who had led the refurbishment process. The workshops explored their design journey, and how the design process and decisions made during the refurbishment had affected how the building was working. We collected examples of good design, key learning points and top tips for other groups. We also provided each group visited with independent design advice on how to further improve their buildings.